When I sing “He’s Everything to Me”, I mean it. We have seen that Jesus saves us by His blood, heals us from our wounds, frees us from our faults, stands as our perfection before God, our righteousness before the Father and our future. What more could one ask for? How about hope? Many people walk through life without any means of real hope. They are lost, drifting on a sea of despair, but Jesus is our hope. We need not drift along with the world, but move forward in the full knowledge that God has a plan for each of us, specifically designed just for us.

Hope first comes to us when we are saved, for it is then that we realize that we no longer are bound to the punishments of this world, but are heirs to a greater reward in Christ. The apostle Paul puts it this way, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:1-5) I love the way this ends, “… hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us.” Hope, just exactly what is it? That is the perplexing problem for many. You hear people say, “Hope you have a good time!” or “Hope your day was a good one”. This is not the kind of hope Paul is talking about, nor God, since it is His Word. Hope is something positive that we KNOW we can count on. Now let’s see, what can we count on with God. We have already mentioned a bunch of them; salvation, healing, freedom, perfection, righteousness, future, grace, these are all things upon which we KNOW are true. The are already at work in you if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

With regards to the future Paul tells Titus, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13) For we know also that one day Jesus shall return, not as a suffering servant, but as King of kings and Lord of lords. We who have served Him faithfully all these years know also that we shall reign with Him. This hope is something that WILL come to pass, not something that MAY come to pass. And that is the basic difference between the hope the world has and the hope the Christian has.

God is forever the same, His Word remains forever. As Peter writes, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (I Peter 1:24, 25) Let us therefore shine with the light of Jesus that others may also share in this blessed eternal hope.